Hi Butch,
Yes, LV has gone to Open Sky (called desert sky for their system) but are
extremely dissatisfied with it. They proposed switching to a P25 system but
have not yet done so. I suspect budget constraints are holding them back.
The article I read indicated they invested a lot in the desert sky system.

Ron Miller


-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Butch Bussen
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 11:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Programming a PSR500?

I have a rat shack pro 433 and a hand held 528, take the same programming
software.  This software doesn't talk at all.  I did get it programmed when
I lived in Vegas, I subscribed to some data base and finally figured how to
have it download the file to the scanner, but it wasn't very speech friendly
either, and I haven't even unpacked the thing since I moved back to Kansas.
I think h p has gone trunking and some cities have gone to some sort of
digital that can't be received by any scanner.  I'm told Vegas has since
gone to blue sky or something like that which can't be monitored either.
73
Butch
WA0VJR
Node 3148
Wallace, ks.


On Thu, 14 Aug 2014, Jim
Gammon wrote:

> Colin, have you been able to manually program a PSR500? You have much 
> more knowledge or patience than I do.  Jim WA6EKS
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Colin McDonald <[log in to unmask]
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Date sent: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 19:13:10 -0600
>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>> that is a pretty subjective question...
>> It really depends on how familiar you are with programming logic,
> and how
>> trunked systems are programmed, or if you use radio reference and
> that sort
>> of thing.
>> These days, using radio reference to program your scanner makes
> them nearly
>> plug and play devices...but for those of us who have used
> scanners for many
>> years had to deal with manual programming on radios that didn't
> offer any
>> sort of real accessible feedback...but were also all programmable
> via the
>> keypad...so as long as you can work out a key chart for a
> particular
>> scanner, most of them are usable, though not to the point where
> you can
>> always be sure of a particular state, IE, which banks or groups
> are turned
>> on or off at any given point etc, or what the display shows and
> so on.
>> Anyway, out of the box, with a little learning, you should be
> fine.
>> The manuals are online and the best way to learn any new piece of
> gear is
>> through trial and error...you really can't screw anything up
> beyond what a
>> reset can fix.
>> I usually learn the programming by entering a system in a few
> times and
>> resetting so I can get the hang of it before entering a whole
> bunch of
>> systems and frequencies in, just to find out after that I did
> something
>> wrong.
>> Plugging into radio reference will program the scanner for you
> and set
>> everything up in a nice easy to use manner...but I believe there
> is a
>> fee...but it works well if you travel or go between counties or
> cities where
>> there are allot of systems.
>> Upgrade to the psr800 and you get an SD card that you can load
> all your
>> systems on to, and record scanner audio as well.
>
>> 73
>> Colin, V A6BKX
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]
>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 6:20 PM
>> To: <[log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>> How easy is it to program out of the box?--Matt, N1IBB.
>
>>> At 05:23 PM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>>>> I highly recommend the PSR-500...on tests with very high end test 
>>>> equipment the GRE PSR-500 has measurably better receiver 
>>>> sensativity.
>>>> The audio is excellent as well and very easy to hear even in
> noisy
>>>> environments.
>
>>>> 73
>>>> Colin, V A6BKX
>>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>> From: "Matthew Chao" <[log in to unmask]
>>>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 2:43 PM
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]
>>>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>>>> Which one would you guys recommend:  the bcd396, or this
> one?--Matt,
>>>>> N1IBB.
>
>>>>> At 02:33 PM 8/14/2014, you wrote:
>>>>>> Russ, It's a handheld scanner.  Jim WA6EKS
>
>>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>>> From: Russ Kiehne <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask] Date sent: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 
>>>>>>> 08:37:24 -0700
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: accessible scanners
>
>>>>>>>       Is the psr500 a base or handheld scanner?
>
>>>>>>> On 8/14/2014 8:27 AM, Ron Miller wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi  ,
>>>>>>>> Yes it does decode P25.
>
>>>>>>>> Also, Jim, I am most definitely not saying that we should
>>>>>> discourage Whistle=
>>>>>>>> r from designing accessibility features into their scanner
>>>>>> receivers.  Quite t=
>>>>>>>> he contrary, I am all for it.  In fact, I had begun a dialog
>>>>>> with the folks a=
>>>>>>>> t GRE America on this very subject.
>
>>>>>>>> The intent of my post was simply to respond to a previous
>>>>>> message about Whis=
>>>>>>>> tler's current scanner line and to say that I'm successfully
>>>>>> using the PSR-5=
>>>>>>>> 00 along with PSREdit and the Whistler version of this scanner
>>>>>> should be equ=
>>>>>>>> ally usable.
>
>>>>>>>> BTW, Russ, if we can work out a time, I would be glad to chat
>>>>>> with you about=
>>>>>>>>   how I use PSREdit.
>
>>>>>>>> 73,
>
>>>>>>>> Ron Miller
>>>>>>>> N6MSA
>
>>>>>>>> Ron Miller
>
>>>>>>>>> On Aug 14, 2014, at 10:11 AM, Russ Kiehne <[log in to unmask]
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> =20
>>>>>>>>> Does the psr500 do p25?
>
>